Growing up as a kid in the 80’s and teen in the 90’s fashion fair was so much better and had so many great shops. I remember Carls Jr in the mall meeting boys to get their home phone numbers before cell phones and riding the escalator downstairs at Woolworths to look at cabbage patch dolls in the toy department. Walking past Chauncey’s the coffee shop /restaurant with all the wooden paneling and spindles. How fancy the displays were at Macy’s when the new Guess Jean lines would launch. The Junior department was the first thing you would see to the right of you came in off of Fresno street. They had a really cool western display at one time with turquoise jeans and cow skulls. When there was Macy’s, Weinstalks and Gottchalks all at the same time and my Mom Grandma and Great grandma would all shop and eat lunch at the Weinstalks restaurant. That was 4 generations of shoppers.
How I would go into the Hello Kitty store a couple of shops down from the Macy’s entrance into the mall with the large glass bay window and buy Sanrio pencils and stationary sets. (Later it closed for years and then a different Sanrio shop would open on the opposite side closer to the JCPENNEY entrance.
My mom would take my brother and I for photos at Jcpenny for Easter and Christmas and one time she even had my hair done at JCPenny’s before for the photo I am like 7 and they gave me an old lady curly hairdo it was hilarious. Just before you would get to JCPenney’s I would go into the narrow little shop called Card Attack for gifts and cards. The poster prints store was right near there with prints up the high walls on both sides flipping through posters while my mom picked out art prints to have framed for our house. They had the 5,7,9 store and I loved all the silver jewelry in the glass case at Above the Belt.
I loved the Levi Jean jacket I got from Millers Outpost to go with my 501’s. Contempo were I wanted all the hot teenage fashions. I remember Lerner and Buster Brown kids shoes were you got a free balloon with a new pair of shoes.
The orange Julius for a great drink. The beautiful jewelry counters and green shag carpet at Gottchalks. The warm baked cookies they would sell at the hungry bear and all the purses and swimsuits that were so cute. Even when Gottchalks moved to the old Weinstalks building they still had great deals and great make up counters. I remember trying on all these beautiful leather jackets upstairs. The downstairs bathroom with the green chalkboard in the middle of the mall. In the area outside Gottchalks. The food court in the same location as now but was so much bigger with an area where you stepped down in the middle and there were tables to eat. My friends and I would sit down there in the middle and look for cute boys to walk bye and there were restaurants on all sides at that time way more choices and large section in the back with booths and mirrors on the walls and bathrooms. In the 80’s all the punk rock kids would sit at the food court with their Mohawks and ripped jeans and leather jackets. I loved seeing their outfits.
Later on Woolworth turned into a huge foot locker store with large male statues at the entrance. Near where the old Sanrio store was they put in a Gloria Jean coffee and they had the best sleigh ride white blended mocha. So many fun memories at Fashion Fair.
At the Manchester's mall when they had the Home Express full of everything you could think of I was about 8 or 9 and begged my mom for a Day Planner for Christmas and she couldn’t figure out why I wanted it so bad. I still use planners to this day. Always went to Sam Goodie upstairs were I would buy the latest music. I remember when Gottchalks had that upstairs discount section and there were sky lights and an elevator. Longs had the ice cream counter and lots of seasonal items. Right outside was a vending machine for business cards and a Photo Booth. There was also the cigar shop that smelled so good and their food court upstairs had the Dairy Queen. I spent as many Saturdays at the mall as I could. I loved it! Good memories.

The men's store was Hodge & Sons.

Richard Frey wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 02, 2020 4:58 pm

The developer of Manchester Mall was named Chester "Chet" Bergfield. The land from Blackstone east to Fresno Street and from Shields north to Dakota was owned by Fresno State College. The plan was for Fresno State College to vacate its campus where Fresno City College currently is and move to this new location. There was sufficient land for all of the buildings and some land for agriculture. When Chet Bergfield made such a good offer, it was a "no brainer" as one on the committee once said to me. At the current location of Fresno State College, there is much more land for buildings, sports and agriculture. In order to get a large store with lots of draw to the new shopping center, Chet had to sell some of the land to Sears so that Sears could build their own store on their own land. This is why Sears used to be separated from the rest of the mall by a roadway. Prior to this, Sears was located on Fulton Street in downtown Fresno. The land not used for the shopping center was developed for relatively inexpensive new housing.

Thanks for the great history.😊👍🏽

Perry Boys was a great place as a kid would chow down on the chicken, and the Chicken Pie Store, also the one on Olive were great for the Chicken Pie.

Yes, I remember that stationary/card store from late 80s/early 90s. Small gifts and such. Don't remember what it was called, but it was on a side wing of Manchester Mall - not in the middle.

So I am a bit younger than most here, but was hoping someone with better memory would be willing to help me out? I recall going with my parents to a store downstairs at Manchester with a window in the back facing a parking lot. They reminded me a bit of Hallmark, selling wedding and/or baby themed products. This would have been during the early-mid nineties, and while I can't prove it, get the feeling they didn't last much longer. It might have been replaced by another store, and if so, it must have been something I had no interest in, since even the location I've never been to a second time...

I remember Annie Laurie’s ice cream parlor at the shopping center at Palm and Shaw. The coffee ice cream was the best I’ve ever had. The Fresno Community Bank was at that center too as was
CashionCarry, (which sounded like Cash and Carry). I don’t remember the name of the restaurant that was there but I really liked their Roquefort salad dressing. There was a grocery store at that center too. What I really appreciated was that when you went into a store, the sales persons were friendly and would chat with you. I’ve ever found this in other cities. Does anyone remember the Californian Hotel? When we moved to Fresno, we stayed there briefly until our house was ready.

Well, being in my 60s, I remember when fashion fair was built. When they first built the mall, Macy’s was not in the first phase of development. It wasn’t built until they tore down the old Sunset Drive in that used to occupy the area where Macy’s is now at the end of the mall. I also remember a very high end restaurant called The Velvet Turtle being in the fashion fair parking Lot in about the same area where Flemings, cheesecake factory, and BJ’s are present day. It was quite expensive in it’s day, and didn’t last very long. I believe it went on to later be a Hungry Hunter restaurant? At least that’s how I remember it. Does anybody else remember that?

The developer of Manchester Mall was named Chester "Chet" Bergfield. The land from Blackstone east to Fresno Street and from Shields north to Dakota was owned by Fresno State College. The plan was for Fresno State College to vacate its campus where Fresno City College currently is and move to this new location. There was sufficient land for all of the buildings and some land for agriculture. When Chet Bergfield made such a good offer, it was a "no brainer" as one on the committee once said to me. At the current location of Fresno State College, there is much more land for buildings, sports and agriculture. In order to get a large store with lots of draw to the new shopping center, Chet had to sell some of the land to Sears so that Sears could build their own store on their own land. This is why Sears used to be separated from the rest of the mall by a roadway. Prior to this, Sears was located on Fulton Street in downtown Fresno. The land not used for the shopping center was developed for relatively inexpensive new housing.

Someone reminded me, it was Woolworths